Top 10 Gazette stories of the year: #8 In fits and starts, Iowa managing its way to managed care

Counting down the top Gazette stories of the years as voted by our readers

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Michele Meadors, a Medicaid recipient, speaks during a Medicaid oversight hearing at the State Capitol in Des Moines on Monday, August 29, 2016. The morning meeting invited providers and Medicaid recipients to speak about their experiences working with the MCOs following Iowa’s transition to managed care in the spring. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Derek Laney, Program Director of Iowa Focus, speaks during a Medicaid oversight hearing at the State Capitol in Des Moines on Monday, August 29, 2016. The morning meeting invited providers and Medicaid recipients to speak about their experiences working with the MCOs following Iowa’s transition to managed care in the spring. Laney says the managed care organizations his organization works with are behind on payment processing for providers and have made processing less efficient for providers, while other aspects of the transition have been working well. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

The Gazette

Dec 27, 2016 at 3:34 pm | Print View

They say watching government policy being implemented is like watching sausage being made.

In the case of Iowa’s managed care transition, we are still in the part involving the intestines.

As Medicaid was eating up a larger share of state budgets, and Medicaid expansion was mandated by the Affordable Care Act, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad initiated a transition from the old Medicaid system to one involving management by private insurers, implemented April 1 of this year. Some lawmakers say this move happened too fast, certain health insurers are reporting losses, some Medicaid recipients are reporting struggles with processing payments, while the governor still stands by the move. So the verdict still is out on this one, especially as national lawmakers may contemplate repealing ACA in 2017 or beyond.

It all gets complicated from here. For more info, let’s go to the links. There are so many links. And there are more stories beyond this on the site if you’re still interested.